20th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

United Nations Headquarters, New York, United States of America,29 June 20151. The 20thBASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was held in the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in New York on 27-28 June 2015. The meeting was attended by H.E. Ms. Izabella Teixeira, Minister for the Environment of Brazil, H.E. Ms. Edna Molewa, Minister of Environmental Affairs of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs of China and Mr. Ravi S. Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of India.

2. The Ministers welcomed the convening of the High Level Event on Climate Change by the President of the United Nations General Assembly on 29 June 2015, which aims to highlight the importance of the issue of climate change and to provide impetus and momentum towards a successful outcome of the 2015 Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris.

3. The Ministers welcomed the outcome of Lima Climate Change Conference in 2014, and the work of the Peruvian Presidency. They committed to work constructively to ensure a successful outcome at the Paris Climate Change Conference later this year and expressed their full support to France.

4. Ministers reaffirmed that the process and outcome of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) should be guided by and be in full accordance with all principles and provisions of the UNFCCC. Ministers underscored the need for the Paris Agreement to address in a balanced manner all six elements identified in the Durban mandate mitigation, adaptation, finance, capacity-building, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support. In this regard, they stressed that an ambitious outcome of the ADP should not focus solely on mitigation, but should also address the other elements in a balanced and comprehensive manner.

5. Ministers expressed appreciation for the progress achieved in the last two sessions of the ADP held in Geneva and Bonn. However, the Ministers stressed the need to accelerate the pace of negotiations. In this regard, they look forward to a streamlined and concise document being prepared by the ADP co-chairs to facilitate substantive progress in the negotiations of the Paris Agreement.

6. Ministers emphasized that the negotiations at the forthcoming ADP sessions should focus on the core provisions to be included in a protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention. In this regard, they highlighted that the document being prepared by the ADP co-chairs should be concise, including all core elements of the Durban mandate. Further detailing of the provisions, including modalities and technical aspects, could be addressed in COP decisions, as agreed by Parties.

7. Ministers concurred that the agreement must provide an equitable, inclusive and effective framework within which Parties can enhance actions to keep the world on a path to limiting the increase in average global temperature to below 2 degree Celsius and to enable adaptation in response to unavoidable adverse effects of climate change.

8. Ministers underscored that commitments under the Paris Agreement will be in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention. They stressed that contributions will be nationally determined and reflect each Partys highest possible effort, in accordance with its common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Contributions should be comprehensive, addressing, mitigation, adaptation and the provision of support by developed to developing countries.

9. Ministers affirmed that the agreement should enable Parties to enhance the implementation of the Convention, without regression on existing commitments. Ministers further agreed that the 2015 agreement should ensure transparency, keep its implementation under review and provide for further cooperative action under the Convention to address any gaps that may arise.10. Ministers considered that ambition and effectiveness will be achieved by maintaining differentiation among developed and developing country Parties in each element of the agreement. This will enhance participation and efforts by all countries.

11. With regards to mitigation, Ministers underscored the need for the provisions of the agreement to fully reflect differentiated responsibilities and distinct development stages of developed and developing countries, with developed countries taking the lead by undertaking ambitious, economy-wide, absolute emission reduction targets and providing finance and technology support to developing countries. At the same time, developing countries will enhance their efforts, in the context of sustainable development, enabled and supported by finance, technology development and transfer and capacity-building from developed countries.

12. Concerning adaptation, Ministers emphasized that adaptation is an issue that requires an urgent global response. The Paris agreement should ensure the provision adequate support by developed countries to developing countries in meeting their needs and costs of adaptation actions.

13. Developed countries must provide new, additional, predictable, adequate and sustained public support to enhance actions by developing countries under the Paris agreement. The agreement must establish a clear link between the actions by developing countries to contribute to effectively addressing the climate change challenge and the scale of finance, technology and capacity-building support, including investments, required by them for implementation. Ministers emphasized that existing institutions and mechanisms created under the Convention should be anchored and further strengthened under the Paris Agreement.

14. The Ministers noted the progress that has been made to operationalize the Green Climate Fund and called on developed countries to scale up and fully implement their pledges and urged them to replenish the Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Country Fund, and the Special Climate Change Fund, which need to continue in accordance with their respective mandates.

15. With regard to the ADP Workstream 2, Ministers stressed that the pre-2020 ambition gap shall be primarily addressed through the implementation of the 2nd commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the outcome of the Bali Action Plan. Ministers reiterated their concern with the inadequacy of developed countries current commitments on emission reductions and provision of financial and technological support. Ministers noted that ensuring increased financial, technological and capacity-building support by developed countries for mitigation and adaptation actions by non-Annex I Parties is essential for enhancing the short-term capacity of developing countries to contribute to the global fight against climate change.

16. Ministers strongly supported the call by G77 and China for the ADP co-chairs to prepare an inclusive paper as a starting point for the discussions under Workstream 2 at next ADP session.17. Ministers called for the urgent ratification of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol establishing the second commitment period, emphasized the importance of revisiting and increasing ambition of QELROs and raising the ambition of the comparable pledges in the same timeframe by Annex I Parties not participating in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

18. Ministers expressed disappointment over the continued lack of any clear roadmap for developed countries to provide USD 100 billion per year by 2020, as well as on substantially scaling up financial support after 2020. They urged developed countries to honor their obligations to provide new, additional and predictable financial support to developing countries in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner. They reiterated that public financial sources should be the mainstay of climate finance and that private finance could only be expected to play a supplementary role.

19. As developing countries facing multiple challenges in terms of social and economic development and poverty eradication, BASIC countries are undertaking ambitious actions domestically on climate change. Ministers underlined that domestic preparations for their respective intended nationally determined contributions are at an advanced stage and that their respective contributions will reflect their utmost efforts towards the objective of the Convention.

20. Ministers reaffirmed the commitment of BASIC countries to the unity of G-77 and China, and expressed their appreciation to South Africas chairing of the group. They voiced their support for further strengthening developing countries' positions at UNFCCC negotiations through the G-77 and China.

21. Ministers welcomed the offer by China to host the 21thBASIC Ministerial Meeting in the second semester of 2015.